TOMS RIVER — A federal judge in Newark has set bail at $1 million for Michael J. Ritacco, the longtime superintendent of one of New Jersey's largest school districts who surrendered to federal authorities today to face 18 counts of fraud and bribery.

Ritacco,62, is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud and other crimes for allegedly taking more than $1 million in bribes between 2002 and 2010 from insurance brokers and others. If convicted of the most serious charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison, said Dustin Chao, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Ritacco, who has headed the Toms River Regional Board of Education since 1991, appeared shackled, wearing a blue dress shirt and gray pants for the brief hearing today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Shipp.

Ritacco was charged along with Gartland, a Baltimore, Md. man who owns a string of companies and has been working as an insurance broker in New Jersey for three decades.

Ritacco surrendered at FBI headquarters in Newark shortly before 11:30 a.m., more than five hours after agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service arrived with an arrest warrant at Ritacco's house in Seaside Park. Gartland is expected to surrender to authorities Friday.

Federal authorities have scheduled a 3:30 news conference to discuss the charges.

Ritacco, the head of New Jersey’s fourth largest school district, was gone when federal agents arrived at his house this morning and already en route to his lawyer’s office in an effort to turn himself in to a federal judge in Trenton, said the attorney, Jerome A. Ballarotto. The lawyer, however, was in Florida.

Toms River superintendent Michael Ritacco leaves federal court in NewarkWilliam J. Hughes Jr. addresses the media with fellow attorney Brian Neary and defendant, Toms River Superintendent Michael J. Ritacco outside the federal courthouse in Newark. Ritacco, 62, turned himself in this morning to federal agents to face 18 counts of fraud and bribery. (Video by Robert Sciarrino and Andrew Mills)

The unsealed indictment comes three days after an insurance broker and a former school official told a federal judge they padded contracts by hundreds of thousands of dollars and used part of the money to pay bribes to a district executive. Authorities did not publicly name the executive, but two people with knowledge of the investigation identified him as Ritacco.

Ballarotto said the allegations made in court by Frank D’Alonzo, a former school district supervisor, and Frank Cotroneo, an insurance broker, were baseless.

“It’s clear, just from what these guys admitted to in court, that they are colossal con artists,” Ballarotto said. “Whatever they did, they did it on their own, without Michael Ritacco.”

Ritacco, who makes $234,000 a year as superintendent, oversees a district with roughly 2,000 employees and a budget of about $200 million.

Tammi Millar, a spokeswoman for the Toms River Regional Board of Education, said classes and other school activities are continuing as normal. “The business of education is continuing in Toms River,” she said.

In the last three years, Gartland's firms have held contracts with at least 12 local governing bodies, including the Perth Amboy, Brick and Toms River school districts, state records show. He already faces state charges for allegedly billing the City of Perth Amboy and its school board for more than $2.7 million in phantom services.

Gartland's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

In April, federal agents raided Ritacco’s home and office, taking stacks of boxes and a Mercedes-Benz.